


Perspective

by quiet__tiger



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman (Movies - Nolan)
Genre: Crack, Crossover, Drama, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-10-23 06:33:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10714134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiet__tiger/pseuds/quiet__tiger
Summary: Nightwing and Robin find a different Bruce.





	Perspective

**Author's Note:**

> I figure as far as the Nolanverse, this takes place soon after Batman Begins. Some slight poking of fun at that Batman.
> 
> Prompt: "New Universe."
> 
> Originally posted to Livejournal 20th-Aug-2009.

Frowning, Dick tapped his communicator once, then again. Bruce had cut off in the middle of a sentence, which never happened. He could be under assault and he’d finish ordering around Dick. “Robin?”

“Yeah, Nightwing. I heard it. We’ll get his last coordinates from Oracle, and I’ll meet you there.”

Listening as Oracle gave them both an address, Dick sighed. It couldn’t be a nice, quiet Tuesday. Hell no. The world just didn’t want to give them a break.

~*~

Dick was a little surprised when he got to the address Oracle gave them and found Batman crouching on the edge of the roof. It didn’t look as if anything was wrong… But no. The posture was slightly off. The cape a little too short.

He heard a footstep behind him. Tim whispered, “It’s Batman. But not. I wanted to wait until you got here.”

Also whispering, Dick replied, “Let’s go introduce ourselves.”

Before they got within twenty feet, not-Bruce stood and whirled on them. His cowl covered most of his face, and the eyes meeting Dick’s were brown. _Brown_. It was quite disconcerting, considering the costume. Thicker armor with a slightly different logo, an odd material for the cape, but this man was definitely wearing a Batsuit.

Then not-Bruce growled at them, “Who are you? And where am I?”

Startled by the deep and forced growl, Dick briefly stuttered before answering, “Gotham City.”

“This isn’t Gotham. I know Gotham. It’s my city. And this isn’t it.”

Tim and Dick conferred for a moment, exchanging comments on this man’s outfit, technology, and genuine confusion and fear. Finally, Tim addressed not-Bruce, slightly amused. “You’re probably from an alternate Gotham. We get that sometimes.”

Not-Bruce narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

Tim launched into an explanation about alternate universes, parallel worlds, and the Justice Lords. He finished up with, “So we just need to figure out how you got here, then we can swap you for our Batman.” Turning to Dick, he suggested, “Let’s take him back to the Cave.”

Dick nodded and activated the locator device for the Batmobile. Bruce left that thing everywhere.

~*~

Not-Bruce, with his brown eyes and serious mouth and rather nice voice when he wasn’t growling, kept looking around the Batcave, eyes wide. Dick smiled. “Different than your own?”

“Mine is literally a cave… With a waterfall. Are we also under Wayne Manor?”

From over by the computer console where he was looking up atmospheric patterns, Tim answered, “Yes. All right. Do you remember anything from before you found yourself here? Strange people, strange sounds, smells, anything?”

“Not that I can remember. I was in my Gotham one second, and then in yours the next.”

Further questioning was interrupted by Alfred, who carried a tray of sandwiches and drinks. “I took the liberty of fixing you what our Bruce enjoyed.”

“Your accent… It’s so different. My Alfred is from a different part of England.”

Dick watched as Alfred’s eyebrow climbed, but no comment was made.

While they ate, Dick and Tim asked not-Bruce about his Gotham, so they would have an idea of where their Bruce wound up and any trouble he might have. It sounded as if the cities were similar in many aspects, but there weren’t really any rogues, and none of the sexy women their Bruce dallied with regularly. Unsurprisingly, Batman wasn’t respected, and there was a lot of gang activity.

“So wait, Bruce.” Dick drank some water and gestured with the remains of his sandwich in his hand. “You’re thirty but you haven’t gone to a circus and taken in an orphan?”

“No. And if I did, I wouldn’t make him a sidekick. I would never bring a child into what I do. First of all, it’s too new to me. I don’t have the resources that you have here.” Not-Bruce gestured around them, meaning everything from computers to cars to whatever else he saw. Dick wondered just what was in this guy’s cave other than water and bats. “I also don’t think this is really the environment for a child. I have the entire city thinking I’m insane—it would be worse to have a kid with me.”

Tim shrugged a little. “I chose this life.”

“I was offered in a backwards way, but I can’t imagine doing anything else. We help Bruce with his mission. All of us do.” Dick gave a brief outline of the extended Batfamily, leaving out Selina and Talia lest he just confuse this Bruce. He seemed awfully attached to this Rachel woman, also. And his own Harvey Dent. If only their Bruce had another chance with him…

The group grew quiet after that, Tim and Dick trying to figure out how this switch had happened, and this new Bruce trying to digest all the information given to him.

At some point Tim sat up straighter. “Wait. This Bruce was switched with our Bruce, as far as we know. There’s no evidence of anything nefarious, it just happened. This Bruce is different than ours, different life, different experiences, a different outlook. Maybe someone might view these all as less favorable, or more challenging, and think this Bruce, or even our Bruce, needs to be shown a different way.”

Dick winced. “Do you mean…” Tim nodded. “Damn it. Bat-Mite! You’re probably here somewhere, come out now!”

Just as they suspected, Bat-Mite dropped down from where he was hiding up by the ceiling. “Yes, Nightwing…?”

“Did you switch our Bruce with this Bruce?”

“I wanted to see what he’d do, how he’d handle meeting you. And this Bruce seemed to need help. His home destroyed, his city practically in ruins… I wanted him to see what it could be like, allowing a team around him, how being Batman only gets harder, not easier. He doesn’t even have real supervillains yet. He can do a lot of things, but he’ll need help.” Bat-Mite looked very sad, but that didn’t make Dick less angry.

“Bat-Mite! You can’t just switch all the Bruces around whenever you want! This Bruce has to learn for himself. Maybe I don’t even exist in his world, so he can’t take me in as his ward. Maybe he won’t have the rogues we do. Maybe his mission isn’t going to be exactly like ours.”

“I just want to help…”

Chewing on another sandwich, Tim asked, “So, what’s our Bruce learning over in this Bruce’s Gotham?”

“I wanted to see how he handled being switched. And… Why he needs you. He’s also seeing why Gotham needs him. Sometimes maybe he doesn’t see that here, with his team and how the public views him and so many horrible things happening to the city. But there’s a different sort of hope there for Batman, even with what happened in the Narrows. Because of what happened.”

Bat-Mite talked more with Tim while Dick talked with not-Bruce. Serious and confused brown eyes looked into his as not-Bruce asked, “What is that?”

“He’s from the 5th dimension. He idolizes Batman. He doesn’t mean to be a pain the ass, but he’s pretty darn good at it. If you get pissed at him, he’ll leave and switch you back.”

“‘Get’ pissed? I’m already pretty angry at getting kidnapped. Not that you and Robin haven’t been educational.”

“That’s us. Educational and helpful. Usually. We’re good for distractions, anyway.”

“So if I just let this guy, Bat-Mite, know how angry I am, I can go home?”

“That’s usually how it works.”

Not-Bruce whirled towards Bat-Mite, who dropped the sandwich he’d just picked up from Alfred’s tray. “You really thought this would be a good idea? What if I had encountered one of this Batman’s rogues? Or what if their Bruce has to move quickly through my Gotham? The Narrows is still a mess, and the Scarecrow is still out there. This is dangerous and I’m very upset that you kidnapped me.”

Bat-Mite looked so sad, even the ears on his cowl drooped. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to help. Sometimes Batman doesn’t listen.”

Dick wasn’t sure, but Tim might have just snorted a bite of his sandwich out his nose.

Still looking forlorn, Bat-Mite snapped his fingers for effect. “They’ll be switched.”

Not-Bruce tried out a smile, and Dick couldn’t help but think that even looking so wrong, this Bruce was an attractive man. He wondered what his own counterpart looked like.

Then there was a flash and not-Bruce and Bat-Mite disappeared, and half a second later their Bruce appeared. “Dick? Tim?”

“It’s us, Bruce.”

“Thank God. I was stuck in some sort of Hell. The city looked like Gotham did after the earthquake.”

Biting the bullet, Dick explained, “That was Gotham. A different Gotham. With a different Bruce Wayne. You got switched with him.”

Obviously taking stock of the situation, Bruce replied, “Bat-Mite?” At Dick and Tim’s nods, he continued, “One day we will strap him down and make him stop pulling these tricks. I don’t need random ‘helpful’ things happening to me. The regular world is bad enough.”

Bruce walked towards the computers, then turned back. “You think Alfred made any more sandwiches? And I’d like to be debriefed on this other Bruce, his Gotham, and what you told him about here.”

After a call to the kitchen for more food, Tim typed while Dick spoke, explaining all about the alternate Gotham and Bruce, and why Bat-Mite did what he did. Bruce told them his impressions of the other Gotham, how it seemed bleak, and somehow empty, and how it was obvious he couldn’t trust the cops even if he’d wanted to.

Finishing his snack, Bruce explained, “I can’t imagine doing this on my own again. It’s hard dragging you all into this, and knowing what I’ve lost.” No one looked towards the display case memorials, but Dick knew they were all thinking about them. “But Gotham is better for having us, and I’m better for it. I may not say it, but I’d be lost without the two of you.”

Soon Tim’s report was done, and conversation stilled, all three of them tired and thoughtful. It wasn’t an easy life, but Dick really couldn’t imagine a different one. Bruce needed him, Gotham and New York and everywhere else needed all of them. He hoped not-Bruce would be okay by himself, or that he found some sidekicks to train.

No version of Gotham could be easy to work in, especially alone.

~*~

Batman arrived back in the Narrows and released a relieved breath. It was good to be home among familiar buildings, even in the Narrows. That other Gotham had certainly been interesting, though. It was like his, but not. And those young men… Robin couldn’t have been older than eighteen. Batman just could not see himself endangering children, even smart, athletic ones. Gotham and the vigilante business were both too dangerous.

But maybe after he cleaned up a little, flushed out more gangs, got a handle on this guy with the Joker playing cards, found Jonathan Crane… Maybe one day, Batman wouldn’t work alone.

It just wouldn’t be any time soon.


End file.
